Remember when I said I wouldn't post much?

Yup. That would be right about now!

This rotation is kicking my behind. Being on call every 4th night is nothing to scoff at.

Here is what my schedule is while I am on call:
-Get to hospital at 8:00 am
-Go to required seminars and presentations
-Take care of current patients
-Begin admitting patients at about 1:00 pm
-Work up patients admitted to my intern (the resident who is my kind of "direct boss")
-If I am lucky, get about 2-3 hours of sleep at some point in the night
-If I am not lucky, like on Friday night, get absolutely no sleep
-Present patients to attending (my big boss) at about 7:00 or 8:00 am THE NEXT DAY
-Go home around 12:00-3:00 pm
-Sleep

I basically stay at the hospital the entire time. Because I am a medical student, my hours are not limited and I could actually end up staying until 5:00 pm or so the following day.

Needless to say, working a straight 30-40 hours is kicking my behind. And making it so I don't post that often.

I am currently at the Seattle VA hospital doing my rotation. This is interesting because in addition to the "normal" health problems, veterans have additional problems to deal with. And the population is mostly male.

Working at the VA has given me some laughs. A certain patient kept trying to call me "youngin" and would argue with me when I would tell him what the treatment was going to be. He talked down to me and basically made me feel like s***. So I laid down the law (so to speak) in two different ways. First, I said that I would answer to my name and that is it. And second, it so happens that as part of his work up he needed a prostate exam, so I was the one to give it. I normally don't enjoy doing these things, but since he really didn't want one and he was being a jerk to me, I enjoyed the fact that he was really uncomfortable with the fact that I was going to do the exam.

Payback is a b**** sometimes.

I am having to learn how to focus and think after being up for 20+ hours. It is definitely hard to do. The worst for me is driving home after being on call. It is a little like driving buzzed. Kind of scary, I know. But the awesome thing is that I have this SUPER DUPER COOL boyfriend who will come and pick me up if I need it. :)

A normal day (not on call) at the VA entails me getting to the hospital between 6:00-7:00 am and leaving between 3:00-5:00 pm. So that isn't too bad.

Well, that is a quick update on what is going on.